www.voanews.com VOA News 25 Feb 2003, 12:30 UTC

Authorities in Venezuela say two separate explosions have damaged the Spanish embassy and the Colombian consulate in Caracas. One person was reported to have been slightly injured.

Police say the first blast occurred early Tuesday morning near the Spanish embassy. The force of the explosion destroyed the embassy gate and shattered windows in adjacent buildings.

Minutes later another explosion shook the Colombian consulate, not far away. That blast also broke windows and damaged nearby structures. Police say leaflets were found at both locations bearing the name of a previously unknown political group.

Spain and Colombia are among several nations that expressed concern to Venezuelan authorities about the arrest last week of Venezuelan business leader Carlos Fernandez.

Mr. Fernandez, who had helped organize a two-month nationwide general strike that failed to oust President Hugo Chavez, is now under house arrest. He faces charges of civil rebellion and criminal indictment for helping lead the walkout. Another strike leader, Carlos Ortega, went into hiding after a warrant was issued for his arrest

abcnews.go.com — By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - An explosion rocked a Spanish Embassy building and another blast hit the front of the Colombian consulate in the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Tuesday, buckling steel gates and blowing out windows in nearby buildings. Five people were injured.

A security guard and two people were injured at the Colombian consulate building, where shards of glass and concrete debris from the badly damaged facade lay scattered across the street, authorities said. Two others were also hurt by fragments at the Spanish embassy site.

The blasts came after President Hugo Chavez, whose self-styled "Bolivarian Revolution" promises to ease poverty, accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies and warned Colombia he may break off diplomatic ties.

"If this had not been at two in the morning and instead at two in the afternoon we would have had a lot of dead from the impact," Chacao district mayor Leopoldo Lopez told reporters.

Police officials could not immediately say what caused the two explosions.

At the cooperation suboffice of the Spanish embassy in the east of the capital, the gate of the building was blown off and a hole punched in its wall; across the street, windows of another building were smashed. The blast at the Colombian consulate, not far from the Spanish embassy site, ripped into the glass facade of the four-story building.

Leaflets scattered at both sites referred to the "Bolivarian Liberation Front," a previously unheard of group.

"Our revolution will not be negotiated, only deepened," one of the leaflets read.

Venezuela's bitter political struggle between Chavez and his opponents has often flared into violence and street clashes; media outlets critical of the president have been the targets of grenade attacks.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN OVER ARREST

The Venezuelan leader's criticisms of the United States and Spain on Sunday followed expressions of international concern over the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, a prominent opposition businessman who was charged with rebellion for leading a two-month strike to pressure Chavez into accepting elections.

Venezuela's crisis has drawn in the international community, with leaders fearing the world's fifth largest oil supplier could slide deeper into violence as Chavez allies and enemies battle over his government.

The U.S., Spain and four other countries have backed efforts by the Organization of American States (OAS) to broker a deal on elections to defuse the crisis. But the talks have been caught up in wrangling and Chavez on Sunday appeared to brush aside members of the six-nation group.

He warned OAS chief Cesar Gaviria, who is chairing the talks for three months, not to "step out of line."

Chavez on Sunday also criticized Colombia after a cabinet minister in the neighboring country said the Venezuelan leader had met with left-wing rebel leaders.

Chavez and his foes have been locked in a fierce political battle over his rule since April when he survived a short-lived coup by rebel military officers. The president has recently hardened his stance against critics he brands "terrorists" trying to topple him by sabotaging the oil industry.

The opposition strike began on Dec. 2; it severely disrupted the vital oil exports that account for half of Venezuelan government revenues. The shutdown fizzled out in February though the oil sector is still struggling to recover.

But Chavez, elected in 1998, has so far resisted calls for an early vote of confidence on his leadership from opponents. They accuse him of ruling like a dictator and inspiring supporters to violence with his fiery speeches laced with threats and class warfare rhetoric.

His self-styled "revolutionary" government mingles left-leaning policies, such as land reform and cheap credits for the poor, with nationalism styled after 19th century South American liberation hero Simon Bolivar.

A grenade exploded in January at the Venezuelan residence of the ambassador from Algeria. That explosion followed bomb threats made against several foreign embassies in Caracas and the German, Canadian and Australian embassies were evacuated.

breakingnews.iol.ie 25/02/2003 - 10:53:59 Two powerful explosions injured four people and damaged the Spanish embassy and the Colombian consulate in the Venezuelan capital early today. Broken glass covered the street outside both buildings while windows in residences almost a block away were shattered by the force of the blasts. Steel gates at the buildings were twisted. Leaflets supporting President Hugo Chavez’s so-called Bolivarian Revolution, a political movement based loosely on the writings of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, were found outside the Spanish Embassy. “We believe these were very potent bombs judging by the damage done,” said the mayor of Caracas’ Chacao district, Leopoldo Lopez. The first blast was outside the Spanish embassy in eastern Caracas at about 2am The second explosion, 15 minutes later, rocked the Colombian consulate. The blasts lightly injured four people, including a night watchmen. The explosions came shortly after Chavez warned Colombia and Spain, among other countries, not to meddle in Venezuela’s domestic affairs. Both nations had expressed concern over the arrest of opposition leader Carlos Fernandez, who was arrested last week for his role in leading a two-month general strike against Chavez. Authorities said no arrests had been made in connection with the two explosions early this morning.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Roy S. Carson

Security services report two explosions in the early hours of Tuesday morning ... one at the Spanish Embassy in La Castellana and a second at the Colombian Consulate in Chacaito.  First reports say 4 people have been injured and there has been "significant destruction" to both diplomatic missions as well as to neighboring buildings.

The bombings took place at approximately 2:00 a.m. local time.  A security guard at the Spanish Embassy was injured and three buildings and two homes in the neighborhood suffered severe material damage.

Globovision Channel 33 TV news has been showing this picture of one of the pamphlets

Chacao Mayor Leopoldo Lopez arrived at the scene outside the Spanish Embassy soon afterwards and told reporters that pamphlets, ascribed to the Bolivarian Liberation Front (BLF) urban militia, had been recovered claiming Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez to be part of "a fascist oligarchy" and that "the Bolivarian revolution does not need the interest or the intervention of" OAS secretary general Cesar Gaviria or US ex-President Jimmy Carter.

• Government officials have unhesitatingly denounced the attacks as cowardly and have promised a full investigation.

The explosion at the Colombian Consulate took place some fifteen minutes after the original explosion at the Spanish Embassy, injuring a security guard, his wife and young daughter ... the building's glass-frontage has been entirely shattered and there has been substantial damage to buildings close by.  A Colombian diplomat was quickly at the scene but said she would not make any statement to the media until later.

Meanwhile, State Security DISIP police and CICPC detectives are working with fire department officials to sift through the wreckage and the rubble to determine what happened.  Traces of C4 Semtex have been discovered and immediate arrangements have been made for heightened security at other embassies and diplomatic residences.

Theories abound as diplomats and security executives attempt to piece the events together.  Early suspicions have been raised that the explosions are part of an opposition counter-offensive attempting to discredit the government using the BLF urban militia as a pretext.

"Just because BLF pamphlets were discovered at the scene does not necessarily mean that they were behind the bombings," a DISIP source has told VHeadline.com.  "In the weird scenario that is Caracas these days, it could just as easily have been some opposition hot-heads trying to deflect attention away from the general manhunt for CTV leader Carlos Ortega ... we are keeping an open mind!"

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 By: Robert Rudnicki

Colombian government spokesman Ricardo Galan has read a statement in which the Colombian government urgently calls for President Hugo Chavez Frias to collaborate in the Colombian government's fight against terrorism and guerilla groups. 

• According to the spokesman, the Colombian government still believes that rebel groups are using Venezuelan territory as a refuge where they run to to escape the Colombian army.

Venezuela's neighbor has made many similar pleas to President Chavez Frias and his government, but it appears they are now growing increasingly concerned by what they perceive as Venezuela's apparent inaction on the issue.

The Colombians are once again calling for joint coordination of activities in the clampdown against the guerillas from both sides of the border.